In building any data-base for a community to use, two general problems often arise: what data to collect and how to collect it. For example, the problem of how to collect data has prevented the formation of a complete and current U.S. data-base of phone numbers not controlled by the Bell companies. The problem is only worse when an international directory is contemplated. And it is even worse when networks like Internet are involved. On these networks, there is no "phone company" to forcibly register people's numbers. The problem of what data to collect can be equally vexatious. There are an infinite number of pieces of information one could enter into a data-base. How to know, for example, whether to list a certain phone number or obscure fact?
A system and method for solving these two problems in a broad range of cases is disclosed. It enables a data-base to fill itself and update itself with data that users need. This system and method can be called a self-organizing data-base (SODB). The inventor is not aware of any data-base system and method like the SODB. The SODB allows users who pay for data to also enter data and get paid royalties for doing so. Further, the SODB allows paying users to automatically find out the estimated royalty value of entering data. While other data-bases have allowed users to check the income a piece of data might generate, none have opened this route so directly to paying users in an elegant feedback system like the SODB.